The present disclosure generally concerns the manufacturing of electronic components, and more particularly the forming of PN junctions. The present disclosure more particularly applies to PN junctions used in light signal modulators.
Optical fibers enable transferring data in the form of light signals which are then converted into electric signals.
Each optical fiber is associated, upstream in the transmission direction, with a modulator and, downstream, with a photodiode. The modulator enables to modulate a characteristic of the light signal transmitted in the optical fiber so that it is representative of the data to be transmitted.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a modulator 10. Modulator 10 receives at a first input 12 a light signal supplied by a constant source. The modulator further comprises terminals 14 and 16 having a voltage V applied therebetween. In the example of FIG. 1, terminal 14 is coupled to a source of application of a potential V, and terminal 16 is coupled to ground. Modulator 10 supplies an output 18 with a light signal having its phase shift φ(V) depending on voltage V.
Voltage V for example varies between a high voltage representing a logic value 1 and a low value representing a logic value 0. Voltage V, and thus the phase shift of light signal φ(V), are then representative of data in binary format.